PATH Program

PATH logo

Funded by a generous 3-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Preparing Accomplished Transfers to the Humanities (PATH) is a collaborative transfer support program between the San Diego Community College District and the University of California, San Diego Division of Arts and Humanities. PATH guides transfer students from City, Mesa, and Miramar Colleges into arts and humanities majors at UC San Diego and includes:

A systematic approach to the recruitment, retention, and professional success of Humanities transfer students
Faculty collaboration between both institutions through shared programs, teaching and support activities (PDF)
Emphasis on the foundational, transferable, enduring role of the Humanities

PATH PEER MENTEE PROGRAM

The application for the 2023-2024 academic year is now closed.
Please check back in Spring 2024 for updates.

PATH Program at City, Mesa, and Miramar Colleges

Transfer guidance to UC San Diego in an Arts and/or Humanities discipline major
Weekly meetings with mentors
Participation in career exploration and outreach activities
Recurring workshops
Arts and Humanities programming
No cost to students enrolled in the program!

Program Eligibility

Students from San Diego City, Mesa or Miramar Colleges
Interested in and qualify for transfer to UC San Diego, with a major in the Arts and Humanities
Have a minimum of 24 units, with the intent to complete a total minimum of 60 units by the end of spring 2024 in order to be eligible for transfer admission.
Have a cumulative minimum of a 3.0 GPA

PATH SUMMER ACADEMY

The PATH Summer Academy is a free 5-week summer program, where students get acclimated to student life at UCSD before the Fall Quarter begins.

PATH Summer Academy at UC San Diego

Workshops that highlight campus resources and programs
Academic and professional development opportunities
Weekly meetings with assigned peer mentor (a previous PATH transfer student at UC San Diego)
Optional social activities, like study sessions, game nights, outings and more
Generous stipend

Eligibility

Attended San Diego City, Mesa, or Miramar College
Have been accepted to UC San Diego
Have a major within Arts & Humanities at UC San Diego (Minors are not eligible)

Read about the 2020 PATH Summer Academy here: “Planting the Seeds for Transfer Student Success”

INTEGRATed FELLOWSHIP INITIATIVE FOR PH.D. STUDENTS

In collaboration between UCSD and the San Diego Community College District, The PATH Integrated Fellowship Initiative offers mentorship and leadership experience in the community college system for UCSD Ph.D. Candidates in the Arts and Humanities. With the completion of another successful year, PATH welcomed its third cohort of Integrated Fellowship Initiative for UCSD Ph.D. Students. The initiative funds (three) UC San Diego Ph.D. Arts and Humanities students for the 2023-2024 academic year. Fellows will be introduced to a range of academic leadership positions and career options within the Community College system and focus on three major components: teaching, administration, and mentoring. See past year's Fellows (PDF).

Please meet the 2023-2024 cohort:

Matthew Ehlrich

Matthew Ehrlich is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at UC San Diego. He attended California community college for four years before transferring to Hofstra University for his BA in History and Spanish. After working as a restaurant cook for several years in Vermont and New York, he attended Tufts University for an MA in Global History. His dissertation focuses on nineteenth-century Spanish nationalism through the lens of race, slavery, and colonialism during the Cuban wars of independence from 1868-1898. He has worked as a teaching assistant for the Making of the Modern World program for several years, as well as a summer instructor for the History Department. As a lifelong hard-of-hearing individual who has struggled with ADHD and other learning disabilities since childhood, his personal experiences as a student provide the basis for his advocacy for accessibility as an instructor. In addition, over a decade of continuing research into the legacies of inequality and intolerance make him a passionate critic of institutional oppression in all forms; commitments he pursues outside the classroom as a labor organizer, founding member of the Dollar Lunch Club, a UCSD mutual-aid initiative to address food insecurity, and Vice President of a living-history (“reenactment”) organization dedicated to combating white supremacy and gender- and sexuality-based discrimination within the field of interpretive public history. He is thrilled to return to his community college roots, work with our PATH program, and be a part of new generations of students in building equitable, diverse, and inclusive classrooms and communities.

Marisol Cuong

marisol cuong wearing floral blue blouse

Marisol Cuong is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Literature Department Spanish Section at the University of California, San Diego. She completed her B.A in Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley and earned her MA in Literature at UCSD. Before starting graduate studies, Marisol worked for a non-profit charter school that helps non-traditional minority students that were teenage mothers, formerly incarcerated, and/or undocumented. Through such experiences she embraces community knowledge through femtorships, teach-ins, and advocacy. She is excited to integrate those ideals by being a part of our program here at PATH.

At UCSD, Marisol has taught Spanish Literature and Language classes in both the literature and linguistics department. Additionally, she has held Associate- In positions teaching Critical Gender Studies and Ethnic Studies courses that center the issues of race, class, and gender geared toward Latine communities. Marisol’s dissertation Witnessing: The Fragmented Reality of Militarization and Displacement of Latine Communities examines where and how violence is created, condoned, and reproduced to juxtapose a domestic war and a legacy of imperialism through the militarization of communities of color. Marisol Cuong was born and raised in Los Angeles, California her upbringing defined her interests in immigration and violence against women. She is motivated to become the first in her family to graduate from a doctoral program.

Andrea Zelaya

andrea zelaya wearing black glasses and a light pink striped collared shirt with a black tie Andrea Zelaya is a scholar, researcher, educator, writer, artist, translator, and cultural activist. A Central American immigrant, her cultural heritage and background inform her creative, academic, and social justice endeavors. She received her MA in Literature from the University of California, San Diego and her BA in both English and Spanish Literature from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with minors in Latin American Studies and History, as well as a TESOL certification. She has served as a pro bono translator for various non-profit organizations and immigrant communities in South Texas. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests include 20th & 21st century Latin American literature, with a special emphasis on Central America. Her theoretical interests include decolonial feminisms and theories of fragments, temporalities, bodies, and social space. Her creative work and current research center around themes of fragmentation, trauma, and memory of postwar Central America. She has published fiction and poetry in both English and Spanish. Some of her cross-disciplinary interests include art, cultural studies, history, psychology, architecture, music, film, mental health, neurodivergence, disability studies, and linguistics. As a Mellon PATH IFI fellow and a community college graduate and transfer student herself, Andrea looks forward to contributing to, supporting, and learning from the students, faculty, and administrators at the San Diego Community College District.

Path Highlights

	PATH in collaboration with UC San Diego Library Extension is putting on a FREE 9 part workshop series wrapping in digital tools and programs to share stories and express oneself. All SDCCD staff, faculty and students are invited to participate. The workshops are geared around programs and skills to be used on resumes and support building job-related skillset. Participants who attend 7 of 9 workshops (there will be make up sessions in March) will receive a Certificate in the Digital Humanities from UC San Diego Library Extension. All of the workshops will take place during the semester, to register or learn more please check out the Digital Humanities Webpage.
	March 10, 2020: Reclaiming Our Stories 2: A Reclaiming the Humanities Speaker Series event at City College. Authors Graciela Uriarte, David Grant, and Candice Tan-Custidio otherwise known as ‘DJ Kuttin Kandi’, read their very own moving pieces from the book “Reclaiming Our Stories 2”.
	November 20, 2019: Reclaiming the Humanities Speakers Series Event at Miramar College. Students were able to academic and professional journeys of guest speakers: Los Angeles artist Mario Ybarra, UC San Diego graduate student Oscar Magallanes, and Miramar College professor Adrian Arancibia.
	December 4, 2019: For the Love of the Humanities- A Reclaiming the Humanities Speakers Series event at Mesa College. Students learned about the educational and career experiences of Mesa College and UC San Diego Arts and Humanities faculty.

CONTACT US

District Office:
	Lillian A. Garcia, Dean of Equity and Special Funded Programs
	Jessica Dolfo, Program Activity Manager jdolfo@sdccd.edu
	Daisy Sanchez, Program Assistant dsanchez@sdccd.edu
Faculty Coordinators:
	City College: Dr. Kelly Mayhew kmayhew@sdccd.edu
	Mesa College: Dr. Pegah Motaleb pmotaleb@sdccd.edu
	Miramar College: Dr. Carmen Carrasquillo cjay@sdccd.edu